Gettering is a process by which unwanted particles are removed (i.e., gettered) from a system. For example, gettering may be used to remove unwanted residual gas molecules from a processing chamber that is under vacuum. By removing the unwanted gas molecules from the chamber, the gettering process reduces a pressure of the vacuum.
Gettering may be performed within a processing chamber by using a vapor deposition technique to deposit a getter layer comprising a plurality of gettering molecules. When a residual gas molecule within the processing chamber comes into contact with a vaporized gettering molecule, the residual gas molecule will combine with the vaporized gettering molecule. The combined gas molecule and gettering molecule are subsequently deposited on the substrate, thereby removing the gas molecule from the vacuum.